Latest news with #CerroPachón
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How the largest digital camera ever made is revolutionizing our view of space
Last Thursday, I took my son to the Rose Center for Earth and Space at New York's Museum of Natural History. In the Hayden Planetarium, we watched a simulation of the Milky Way bloom above us, while the actor Pedro Pascal — who truly is everywhere — narrated the galactic dance unfolding on the screen. It was breathtaking. But it didn't compare to what was blasted around the world just a few days later, as the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory began broadcasting its 'first light' — its inaugural images of the cosmos. I found myself pinching-to-zoom through a picture that contains roughly 10 million galaxies in a single frame, a vista so vast it would take 400 4-K TVs to display at full resolution. I could hold the universe itself on my screen. Perched 8,660 feet up Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes, where the crystal-clear nights provide an exceptionally clear window into space, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory began construction in 2015 with funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy. Named for the pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin, whose work on galaxy rotation helped prove the existence of dark matter, the observatory was built to run a single, audacious experiment: the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. It will photograph the entire Southern Hemisphere sky every few nights to tackle four grand goals: unmask dark matter and dark energy, inventory the Solar System's asteroids and comets, chart the Milky Way's formation, and capture every transient cosmic event. What makes Rubin so special is its eye, which is a marvel. At its core is a 27-foot-wide dual mirror cast from 51,900 pounds of molten glass that is still light enough to sweep across the sky in seconds. The mirror directs a flow of light from the cosmic depths to the 3.2-gigapixel LSST Camera, a 5-by-10-feet digital jumbotron that is the largest digital camera ever made. It's like a massive magnifying glass paired with the world's sharpest DSLR: Together they capture a swath of the night sky equivalent to 45 full moons every 30 seconds. And those images, which will be continuously shared with the world, are jaw-dropping. The headlining shot from Rubin's debut, nicknamed 'Cosmic Treasure Chest,' stitches together 1,185 exposures of the Virgo Cluster, our nearest major collection of galaxies, some 55 million light-years away. But the Rubin Observatory is about much more than producing pretty cosmic wallpaper. Its unprecedented scale gives it the ability to search for answers to grand questions about space science. The NSF notes that Rubin will gather more optical data in its first year than all previous ground telescopes combined, turning the messy, ever-changing sky into a searchable movie. As I've written before, the world has made great strides in planetary defense: Our ability to detect and eventually deflect asteroids that could be on a collision course with Earth. Rubin has already begun paying dividends toward that goal. In a mere 10 hours of engineering data, its detection software identified 2,104 brand-new asteroids — including seven near-Earth objects, heavenly bodies whose orbit will bring them near-ish our planet. That haul came from just a thumbnail-sized patch of sky; once Rubin begins its nightly scan of the whole Southern Hemisphere, it's projected to catalog over 5 million asteroids and roughly 100,000 NEOs over the next decade, tripling today's inventory. That will help NASA finally reach its congressionally mandated target of identifying 90 percent of the 25,000 city-killer-class NEOs (those over 140 meters) estimated to be out there. How powerful is Rubin's eye? 'It took 225 years of astronomical observations to detect the first 1.5 million asteroids,' Jake Kurlander, a grad student astronomer at the University of Washington, told 'Rubin will double that number in less than a year.' And the images that Rubin captures will go out to the entire world. Its Skyviewer app will allow anyone to zoom in and out of the corners of space that catch Rubin's eye, including celestial objects so new that most of them don't have names. Looking at the app gives you a sense of what it must have been like to be one of the first human beings, gazing up at a sky filled with wonder and mystery. It might seem strange to highlight a telescope at a moment when the world feels as if it is literally on fire. But the Vera Rubin Observatory isn't just a triumph of international scientific engineering, or an unparalleled window on the universe. It is the ultimate perspective provider. If you open the Virgo image and zoom all the way out, Earth's orbit would be smaller than a single pixel. Yet that same pixel is where thousands of engineers, coders, machinists, and scientists quietly spent a decade building an eye that can watch the rest of the universe breathe, and then share those images with all of their fellow humans. Seeing Rubin's images brought to mind the lines of Walt Whitman's 'When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.' I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. On days when life on our little world feels chaotic, Rubin's first-light view offers a valuable reminder: We're just one tiny part in a tapestry of 10 million galaxies, looking up from our planet at the endless stars. A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. Sign up here!
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
First Images From the World's Largest Camera Are Paving the Future of Astronomy
First Images From the World's Largest Camera Are Paving the Future of Astronomy originally appeared on L.A. Mag. On June 23rd, over 300 public and private Watch Parties tuned in to get a glimpse of the First Look images from Rubin Observatory, according to a Rubin Observatory press release. The reason? This observatory features the world's largest ever camera, an 8.4-meter telescope, and is at the forefront of the current astronomy works so well for three primary reasons: its scope, the detail of the images, and the time it takes to capture said images. For example, the image taken of the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae utilized two trillion pixels of data and a combination of 678 exposures to create a 5-gigapixel image. Taken in just under 7.2 hours, this stunning image layers the large amount of different exposures to cast the image into enormous detail. Coupled with the extremely wide range of the camera, viewers can now see the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae in striking and comprehensive first images are the product of over two decades of work from a global team, according to Željko Ivezić, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction. The facility, jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and the U.S. National Science Foundation, was built at the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, where the high elevation, dry air, and dark skies provide an ideal location for astronomical observations. According to Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the observatory 'demonstrates that the United States remains at the forefront of international basic science and highlights the remarkable achievements we get when the many parts of the national research enterprise work together.' Brian Stone, performing the duties of NSF director, details these 'remarkable achievements' by stating how Rubin will 'capture more information about our Universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined,' including information about dark matter and dark observatory's relationship with dark matter is deeply embedded within the observatory's history, specifically concerning its namesake. The observatory is named after Vera C. Rubin, a pioneering U.S. astronomer who found conclusive evidence for dark matter. Dark matter and dark energy are important because they are key players in what is facilitating our universe's expansion, according to NASA. So what's next for the Vera Rubin Observatory? According to CNN, the observatory will make the first scientific observations of the Southern Hemisphere (also known as 'first light') on July 4th. Looking ahead, over the next ten years, the observatory will take 1000 images of the Southern Hemisphere every night as part of the observatory's primary mission to meticulously capture the universe's changes: the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. These images will not only be important for astronomical discoveries, but also for planetary defense, as having more precise images will allow us to better observe and predict asteroids that may potentially impact the Moon or the Earth. Additionally, the observatory seeks to bring cutting-edge astronomical data and images to the general public through the interactive, user-friendly SkyViewer app. The app offers both guided and free-form exploration of select Rubin images as well as an interactive sonification that encourages users to experience the wonder of the cosmos through an endless soundscape. This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Vera Rubin Observatory zooms into deep space
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers use powerful telescopes, often housed at observatories, to peer into the farthest depths of our universe. To do this successfully, observatories often have to be placed at high elevations, away from light pollution, which is why the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Cerro Pachón in Chile sits at 5,200 feet (1,600 meters) above sea level. From their high perches, these observatories take clearer photos of our universe, providing more details about other galaxies, asteroids, and other structures. Recently, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory revealed its first images of our universe, using the LSST camera (LSSTCam), the world's largest digital camera ever constructed. At roughly the size of a compact car, the LSST camera works with the 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope to photograph hard-to-see images. These images could help reveal the presence of dark matter, which makes up 85% of our universe but is essentially invisible. The LSST camera covers a space around the size of 45 full moons in our sky in just one image. In the image release, one of the photographs shared with the public was this picture of the Virgo cluster, revealing two bright spiral galaxies and three merging galaxies, along with many stars. The Virgo cluster is around 53.8 million light-years from Earth. In just this one image, there are estimated to be around 10 million galaxies! Incredibly, this is only 0.05% of the number of around 20 billion galaxies that Rubin will have imaged by the end of its 10-year mission, called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which will investigate dark energy and dark matter in the universe. Presenting these images to the world, the researchers mentioned that this image of the Virgo cluster was created by projecting data onto the image to help give it a three-dimensional look. It is one of many pictures that will continue to be shared as the Rubin Observatory scans the skies at speeds 10 to 100 times faster than similar sized telescopes. With this innovation, images like the Virgo cluster are revealing more intricate structures in our universe, and they're only the beginning of what's to come. You can read more about the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and galaxy clusters as astronomers continue to study our universe.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Millions of galaxies, nebulas and more revealed in first photos from Rubin Observatory
We now have a view of space that we've never had before. This week, the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory captured stunning images that revealed how vast space actually is. 'The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory demonstrates that the United States remains at the forefront of international basic science and highlights the remarkable achievements we get when the many parts of the national research enterprise work together,' Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a release. "The Rubin Observatory is an investment in our future, which will lay down a cornerstone of knowledge today on which our children will proudly build tomorrow.' According to a statement on the observatory's website, "The imagery shows cosmic phenomena captured at an unprecedented scale. In just over 10 hours of test observations, (the observatory) has already captured millions of galaxies and Milky Way stars and thousands of asteroids. The imagery is a small preview of Rubin Observatory's upcoming 10-year scientific mission to explore and understand some of the Universe's biggest mysteries." The Rubin Observatory is located at the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile. It is a relatively new facility and is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, according to the observatory website. "Rubin's innovative 8.4-meter telescope has the largest digital camera ever built, which feeds a powerful data processing system," according to the U.S. National Science Foundation website. "Later in 2025, Rubin will begin its primary mission, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, in which it will ceaselessly scan the sky nightly for 10 years to precisely capture every visible change. "The result will be an ultrawide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the universe." The observatory is named after Vera Rubin , an American astronomer, because she was a "trailblazing" astronomer, according to the facility's website, which noted Rubin "found conclusive evidence of vast quantities of invisible material known as dark matter" in space. This article originally appeared on New space photos show millions of galaxies. Take a look
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
World's largest digital camera captures stunning photos of the universe
Pictures of the universe taken by the largest digital camera ever built were released on Monday. The shots include colorful nebulas, stars and galaxies. The camera is a part of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in the Chilean Andes. It was built to get a deeper look into the night sky, revealing what hides in hidden corners, according to The Associated Press. The observatory will begin a 10-year mission later this year, during which it is predicted to discover 20 billion galaxies, 10 million supernovas and millions of asteroids and comets, per Forbes. The observatory is situated on Cerro Pachón, an 8,900-foot mountain peak that is accessed from the Elqui Valley near La Serena, Chile. It is in the foothills of the Andes and in the southern Atacama Desert, one of Earth's driest places, which also has the clearest sky. 'It's far from light pollution and major flight paths. The Southern Hemisphere also offers a clearer view of the Milky Way's center, which is dense with star fields and nebulae, as well as of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way,' per Forbes. The observatory is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. National Science Foundation. The project is named after Vera Rubin, an astronomer who offered the first evidence of the mysterious force known as dark matter lurking in the universe. Researchers hope that the camera will yield clues about dark matter and dark energy, per NBC News. Keith Bechtol, the project's system verification and validation scientist who is also an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shared what it was like when the first photos came through. 'There were moments in the control room where it was just silence, and all the engineers and all the scientists were just seeing these images, and you could just see more and more details in the stars and the galaxies,' Bechtol told NBC News. 'It was one thing to understand at an intellectual level, but then on this emotional level, we realized basically in real time that we were doing something that was really spectacular.' Some of the photos released this week feature the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas, which are located thousands of light-years from Earth, per the AP. One composite photo shows bright pink clouds of gas and dust that light up the nebulas. Also captured were a gaggle of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster, which includes two bright blue spirals. A video that was released uncovered a horde of new asteroids, including 2,104 that had never been seen before and seven near-Earth asteroids that don't pose a danger to the planet, according to NBC.
